Low glycemic foods are a smart choice for good health. Even more so when you suffer from Adrenal Fatigue. Low-glycemic foods cause a steadier rise of blood sugar and the fiber in these foods will help you feel more satisfied between meals.

Blood Sugar

Blood sugar, or glucose, is a key source of energy and provides nutrients to your body’s organs, muscles and nervous system.During the digestion of food, your body breaks down digestible carbohydrates to sugar before absorbing and using them for energy. Carbohydrates can be either “simple” or “complex”. Simple carbohydrates are composed of simple-to-digest sugars with little real value for your body and are often considered as “bad”. Complex carbohydrates are considered “good”. They consist of longer series of sugars which takes the body more time to break down.

Describing carbohydrates in simple or complex is one way to classify them. Another way to classify carbohydrates is by using “glycemic index”. The glycemic index ranks carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 based on how rapidly and to what extent the carbohydrates raise your blood sugar levels after eating. Foods that have a high glycemic index are quickly digested and cause serious fluctuations in your blood sugar levels. Foods that have a low glycemic index are digested more gradually, bringing a more gradual rise in your blood sugar levels.

Remember that blood sugar levels have an impact on your energy, concentration, performance, mood, ability to lose weight and much more??? Keeping balanced blood sugar levels is highly important for a healthy working HPA axis and to restore adrenal health.

Glycemic Index – The lower the number, the less of an impact the food has on your blood sugar: 55 or less = Low (good) 56- 69 = Medium 70 or higher = High (bad)

Blood Sugar & Adrenal Fatigue

A rapid rise in blood sugar levels by consuming large meals, simple carbohydrates or glycemically imbalanced meals can excessively elevate blood sugar levels. This causes the body to panic and overcompensate by releasing to much insulin. The insulin causes blood sugar levels to drop too low pushing the body (adrenal glands) to produce more cortisol to help restore blood sugar levels. When this pattern continues over time (years), it increases the risk of developing Adrenal Fatigue and other health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, dementia and cancer. Maintaining a diet that helps keep your blood sugar levels stable is crucial to treating Adrenal Fatigue and preventing other health conditions. If you keep your blood sugar levels stable you will have more even energy levels, you will feel more satiated between meals and your cravings for unhealthy foods are reduced.

Eating foods with a lower glycemic index may be beneficial for your health. It can help you live heart healthy, may lower the risk for developing diabetes and metabolic syndrome. It also may contribute to weight loss/maintenance by preventing spikes in your blood sugar and thus cut cravings and urges.

There is a time and place however for foods with a high glycemic index, as they can help re-fuel and maximize carbohydrate stores after exercise.

The Glycemic Load

The glycemic load (GL) is a relatively new measurement to assess the impact of carbohydrate consumption on blood sugar levels. But it gives a more accurate picture than glycemic index alone. The GI does not show how highyour blood sugar will go when you actually eat a particular food. That is obviously also determined by the AMOUNT of carbohydrate in a food. And to understand a food’s effect on blood sugar you need to know both. This is where “glycemic load” comes in.

The glycemic load is calculated by multiplying the grams of a carbohydrate in a serving of food by the glycemic index and then dividing it by 100.

a glycemic load of 10 or less is considered low;

11-19 is considered medium;

20 or above is considered high

Example

Watermelon has a high glycemic index (80). But there are not a lof ot carbohydrates in a serving of watermelon (6 grams). So the glycemic load is therefore only 5.

Factors Influencing Glycemic Response

The glycemic index is not cut-and-dry. First of all, the GI of a food can slightly vary from person to person. But there are other factors that influence your glycemic response. For instance your glycemic response to a food also depends on the other foods you eat with it. Consuming a food along with protein or fat slows the rate of stomach emptying and therefore foods are digested at a slower rate. Foods with acid content in them have a similar effect.

Fat and protein content

Peanut M&M’s (GI=33)

Jelly beans (GI=78)

Potato chips (GI=54)

Baked potato (GI=85)

Acid content

Sourdough wheat bread (GI = 54)

Wonder white bread (GI=73)

As you can see in the above examples in the case of m&m’s, potato chips and sourdough bread, the presence of protein, fat and acid content all reduce the food’s GI.

If you want to learn more about the glycemic index, you can have a look at theglycemic index websitefrom the University of Sydney. It provides extensive information and has a searchable database for GI values.

References & Further Reading

Have you been through a very stressful event or period? Do you have trouble getting out of bed or even if you just woke up, you still feel tired? If so, chances are, you are experiencing symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue.

The Adrenal Fatigue Recovery Package is written and created by Jorden Immanuel. It contains ALL the information and the tools that you need to get MORE energy and to fight off your fatigue.

Jorden Immanuel holds a Master's degree in Social Psychology from the University of Tilburg (Netherlands), is a certified NLP Practitioner and Strategic Interventionist. His passion to advise and guide people to engage in a healthy and active lifestyle made him decide to setup and launch AdrenalFatigueCoach.com.

His main goal for launching this website is to promote understanding of Adrenal Fatigue – what it is and what it is not – and further provide materials and products to support prevention and treatment of Adrenal Fatigue.

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